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TweedLove Race Team rider Callum Thornley suffers a horrible loss, but heads to Dunkeld to do battle with the steeps.

Less than 2 weeks before the Dunkeld SES, disaster struck – 5 of my family’s bikes were stolen out of our garage, including my cherished Whyte T-130. I was absolutely devastated. It was unlikely I was going to be able to race until, amazingly, Alpine Bikes at Glentress arranged a bike I could use, not only for the race, but a whole week before it as well.

It was a beauty. Whyte G160 RS: 160mm of travel, Eagle 1×12 drivetrain, 27.5 wheels, a sick paint job – it was some bike. I took it up the local trails first and it felt quick. You could really notice the extra travel on the fast downhill type stuff yet somehow it also excelled on the steep techy trails. It turned out to be ideal for the gnar up at Dunkeld.

After crashing out at the Tweedlove/Whyte King and Queen in August I was really determined to actually complete an enduro and I couldn’t have picked a harder one to do that! Dunkeld is known for having some of the gnarliest, steepest trails in Scotland. It didn’t disappoint. Accompanying me for the weekend were the usual boys: Calum Johnson, Jonte Willins, and Russell Brown. We went and got our number boards then set off for practice.

First to the Hermitage side, a pretty short climb then looking at lines on stage 1. It was the Dunkeld middle and lower downhill; it felt like a mini DH. Stage 2 was much more my cup of tea; it was really rooty and muddy, yet still fast. The transition to 3 was ideal, there wasn’t one. 3 was really long. It was a mudfest, really hard to keep your feet on the pedals and with the added uphill sprints in the middle it was a brutal stage. A long lunch followed, then it was time for the other side of the town. Stage 4 was arguably the hardest stage of the weekend, because of all the steep, rooty chutes with washed out turns at the bottom. The climb back up was exactly the same for stages 4, 5, & 6. It was brutally steep as well. Stage 5, “The Rudder” was brilliant, some proper steep berms, flat out fast sections with some drops in the mix as well. Kudos to the builders of 5 and 6 because they are superb trails! Stage 6 was similar to 5 but way more rocky and harder. “The Mast” stage 6, was my favourite stage of the weekend.

Race Day

After getting our timing chips, then listening to the briefing we set out to stage 1. It was quite a long wait at the top, about 30mins. Long enough to feel the nerves. I had a reasonably good stage 1 but a silly crash near the start meant lost time. At the start of stage two there were 3 possible lines, but we had heard that the taping had changed so after having a look we lined up. The first section before the fire road was rad with no mistakes. Then I got carried away coming in to the start of the next section, and I decked it. When I got to the bottom of stage 2 I realized my finger was pretty swollen. Actually really swollen. It wasn’t too sore but I couldn’t bend it that much and to make matters worse it was my rear-braking finger. I figured it wasn’t broken or dislocated or anything just staved and badly bruised so I just got on with it! Stage 3 was mental, I had a pretty good stage but it was impossible to not make mistakes on that one.

After lunch it was across the river over to stage 4. At the top I told myself just to take it easy. Keep rubber side down. Funnily enough that stage was my best result! Valuable lesson learnt there. The struggle was real now. Getting back up that unbelievably steep hill was some effort and I could feel myself getting pretty tired. Stage 5 was perfect, no mistakes and according to the strava times I would have been right up there, that’s until the most stupid crash I’ve ever had. It was on a fire road crossing, enough said. When I reached the top of the last ascent, the feeling was so good.

Just one stage left and I’m done, and to makes things even better it was the best stage of the day! Same old story really, great top section then fatigue crept in and I lost concentration and had a mini off before the climb near the finish. Somehow my chain was jammed in the cassette and the mech was also in the cassette! The back wheel wasn’t turning. So I had to complete the rest of the stage carrying my bike. Obviously there was more time gone out the window but I’d finished. It was some feeling.

I ended up 10th place Junior, which I’m well, chuffed with. Got 4 years left of being in the category so roll on the next few years!

Finally, massive thank you to Tweedlove for their ongoing support throughout the year, and to Alpine Bikes because without them I wouldn’t have been able to race!

Bang! – Whyte King and Queen of the Hill – Innerleithen

I have never raced an Enduro before and when the opportunity appeared to race one I was absolutely buzzing. The idea of riding with your mates all weekend in a racing format couldn’t be more appealing! The King & Queen of the Hill is the last of the Triple Crown Tweedlove Series. This year the race was based in Innerleithen. 3 stages up Golfie then 2 proper pedally stages up Inners. Being a ‘local’ I have rode pretty much every trail up Glentress but I have yet to ride all the trails up Innerleithen and ‘The Golfie’ so I was excited to explore the trails on practice day.

Squashing one of the many big drops on Caddon Bank. (Dialled in UK)

The night before practice was a night of rush to get my bike clean and all my kit ready. 2 tubes, tyres levers, a pump, multitool, chain tool and link, some cable ties and some tape wrapped round my inhaler is what I packed in my bum bag and pockets. That night I did a last minute tyre swap from a Trail Boss to a Vigilante on the rear. Apparently it was really slick on Stage 1 and 2 so I was now running Vigilantes front and rear. I pumped my tyres pretty hard because we decided to go up Inners first and the trails there (Caddon Bank) are puncture hell. Stage 5 was a mixture of wet roots at the top and surprisingly dry, flat out sections at the bottom with an uphill sprint in the middle just to keep things interesting! The start of 4 was very tight and awkward but that changed when it opened out onto Caddon Bank, the fastest trail of the day. 1 was pedally, boggy, sloppy, pedally and flowy in the ruts at the top of New Wolf. Stage 2 was tight and slick, but grippy and fast at the huge bus stops at the bottom. 3 was fast, flat out and annoyingly some of the trees seemed to want fights with my shoulders in practice!

After collecting our timing chips we went and queued up for the 1st wave at 09:25. The climb up to stage 1 was the longest of the day. All the way to the reservoir then even further. At the start gate of 1 I didn’t really feel any nerves. I started the stage pretty much as soon as I got to the top so there wasn’t much time for them. I had a great start in the ruts. I was keeping my speed out the turns and feeling pretty quick. I had a good flat section, only 1 or 2 foot dabs but I felt a bit tense. Coming to the bottom I heard the shouts from crowds and that put me off. I thought, ‘oh let’s speed up to impress them’, and my wheel washed out! It was a comical, slow motion sort of crash. But one that lost me some time. Apart from that stage 1 was sick!

Finding my flow in the ruts and turns off Stage 1. (Ian Linton)

Stage 2 was Boner top to bottom. It was quite washed out by the time we got there in practice so it was going to be interesting to race. I had a great top section. No mistakes and no dabs but my bottom section was a bit sketchy. I narrowly missed a few trees and that set me up badly for some other bits. The bus stops at the bottom were always going to be great fun, and they were. The slog back up to Stage 3 was grim. The mud was sticky and it clogged your tyres. Thankfully there was a food station half way but unfortunately it only had bananas! I was looking forward to 3, as it was my favourite stage up the Golfie. Community Service, a brilliant fire road sprint and into Final Fling. I was going well for the first few corners of the trail and I carried that on all the way to the bottom of Community Service. My legs surprisingly felt fresh in the sprint along the fire road then I dropped into Final Fling. I was dodging in between trees and narrowly missing them all but I was feeling fast. Then I saw my dad and sister shouting me on and that gave me a good boost. I got to the bottom with a solid run with no mistake. I was stoked.

Bar humping to make it over the gaps of stage 4. (Dialled in UK)

Now it was time to change sides of the town and spin over to Inners. 4 consisted of Jane’s Lane, a tight and very awkward trail that joined onto Caddon Bank half way down, which was quite the opposite. I was starting to feel my legs hurting now, and when the food station appeared around the next corner I was so happy. Seeing and eating all those cakes was brilliant. I think I ate 7 in total, which in hindsight was probably way too much, but ah well. A track pump awaited us at the top of stage 4. Caddon Bank was known for punctures so 30psi pressures were necessary. I had a poor start to Jane’s Lane in the tight trees, coming to a stand still on multiple occasions. As I came out of the very dark trees the sprint began. Non-stop pedalling apart from in corners and mid air that is. Squashing all the drops and tucking into the bike for those all-important aero gains on the straights. The buzz you get when racing at that speed is brilliant then – BANG – it was one of those crashes that happens so quickly you don’t even know how you did it. My front wheel washed out on one of the easiest parts of the track. I still genuinely don’t know how it happened. I firstly did a quick once over in my mind to check if anything was REALLY hurt, groaned a bit, twisted my bars back in place, groaned a bit more and carried on. According to Strava I was going 43km/h (27mph) when it happened.

I got to the bottom of the stage and sat down. Phil Ackerman and Jon Quale, who had looked after me for the weekend and took me round the course, came over. Phil, being a physio, said I would need to go to hospital. I was absolutely gutted. They bandaged me up then my mum drove me to the BGH. After 4 hours of waiting I got my stitches. 5 in the elbow, 2 in the hip and a grazed back. It was the worst way to end the best day of racing ever. When I got home, to my surprise I found out I was sitting 2nd place junior, just 30 seconds behind 1st before my crash. I was and still am really chuffed with that. I learnt a heck of a lot from that weekend and I will never forget it!

Stage 1 – 3rd place +10.80s

Stage 2 – 4th place +17.37s

Stage 3 – 2nd place +4.33s

Stage 4 – 21st place +43.56s

Relief! Back on the bike

2 weeks later was the Scottish XC Championships at Glentress Forest. I wasn’t too sure if I would be healed up in time for this race. But thankfully, I was. The course was similar to the GT7 route but quite a bit shorter. My old man was racing an XC race for the first time so on the Saturday I went round the course with him. The lap was around 25 minutes long and my category (the U14s) were due to race 2 laps. My injuries were feeling OK but my confidence was on the low on the descents. My race started at 11:30am the next day. I had a really good start, leading for the first 10 minutes then the beast that is Corran Carrick-Anderson overtook me and pedaled away into the distance. I felt surprisingly good on the downhills and I just kept tapping it out the whole race and I ended up 2nd place U14. I was stoked as it was the second time I had been on my bike after my crash!

Tell us how you’ve contributed to the success of biking in the Tweed Valley (don’t be modest!) – Back in 93 + 94 I organised the first mountain bike cross country races and held them at The Golf course at Innerleithen which were also the East Of Scotland Mountain Bike Champs. – Also co organised the first Downhill Race at Innerleithen with my friend Tom Ferguson who then had the shop Probikesport. – Designed and got funding with my friend Grant Martin to build the Skills Area up at Glentress. – Also in early 90’s organised for five years The Tour Of The Meldons Mountain TT which was also East Of Scotland Time Trial Champs. – Helped run PCC Club for the last ten years and help organising all their many events. – Help out at Scottish Cycling talent weekends, mainly at Innerleithen and Glentress.

What do you enjoy most about biking? I enjoy the freedom of biking and a great thing to do with your family and friends.

What’s your favourite local ride? Gypsy Glen every time.

What would you say to encourage others to come and ride here? I would tell people to ride here because of the beautiful scenery and the great variety of trail riding and natural riding. But mainly because everywhere is very welcoming and the weather always amazing.

How do you see the future of cycling in the Tweed Valley? I see the future of the tweed valley flourishing with the sheer diversity of the trails and the fantastic work done by local cycling clubs and of course The Tweedlove Festival.

Sunday 26th January – meet at 1000 at Innerleithen Car Park. Two groups heading out – an Easy/Moderate ride (with some cake along the way) and also a Moderate/Hard ride (with no cakes but some steeps and just perhaps the odd slippy root instead – tasty!)

And for the diary – Sunday 9th March – two more: meet at 1000 at Kingsmeadows Car Park, Peebles for a Moderate/Hard ride. Also a women’s ride – meet at 1000 at the shower block at the Peel Car park at Glentress.

Everyone welcome

N.B. These are not guided rides, it’s just people getting together for a ride. So you are responsible for yourself and your bike and all that stuff.